Francesco "Frankie" Giardini
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Nature: | Director | Demeanor: | Soldier | Willpower: |
7 |
Tribe: | Glass Walker | Auspice: | n/a | Breed: | Homid |
ATTRIBUTES
Strength: | 3 | Charisma: | 2 | Perception: | 2 |
Dexterity: | 4 | Manipulation: | 4 | Intelligence: | 3 |
Stamina: | 3 | Appearance | 2 | Wits: | 2 |
ABILITIES | |||||
Alertness: | 2 | Animal Ken: | 0 | Computer: | 1 |
Athletics: | 0 | Crafts: | 0 | Enigmas: | 0 |
Brawl: | 3 | Drive: | 1 | Investigation: | 2 |
Dodge: | 1 | Etiquette: | 1 | Law: | 1 |
Empathy: | 1 | Firearms: | 3 | Linguistics: | 1 |
Expression: | 0 | Leadership: | 3 | Medicine: | 0 |
Intimidation: | 2 | Melee: | 0 | Occult: | 0 |
Primal-Urge: | 0 | Performance: | 0 | Politics: | 0 |
Streetwise: | 3 | Stealth: | 1 | Rituals: | 0 |
Subterfuge: | 2 | Survival: | 0 | Science: | 0 |
BACKGROUNDS | |||||
Allies: | 3 | Contacts: | 3 | Influence: | 3 |
Mentor: | 2 | Resources: | 4 | Status: | 3 |
OTHER TRAITS | ||||||
Security: | 2 | Finance: | 1 |
Merits | Flaws |
Made Man | Intolerance (Shadow Lords) |
Gall | Enemy (Valencio Dufresne) |
Specialties:
Dexterity: Quick on his
feet
Manipulation: Silver-Tongued
Languages Known:
English
Italian
Merits & Flaws:
Made Man (WoD: Mafia p. 84): Frankie
is a "Made Man" within the Mafia. His name is
on the books; he's considered untouchable. Of course, this isn't inv
incibility--as the book says, sometimes retribution on your behalf is p
osthumous--but it means that he has the weight of the mob's pro
tection weighing in his favor.
Gall (Kinfolk: Unsung Heroe s p. 52): Francesco has balls, that's for sure. Part of his attitude is that he's known for so long that he's the man...this is the life he was destined for, even if he had to earn it. And he has earned it, which means he doesn't take shit from anyone. +1 dice to any Social roll involving a display of backbone.
Intolerance: Shadow Lords: Ever since he learned about the Garou via the betrayal of Michael Dufresne (see below), Frankie has always had an issue with Shadow Lords. They're untrustworthy, deceitful, honorless bastardos who don't understand omerta in any w ay, shape, or form. And as such, he has no respect for them.
Enemy: Michael Dufresne's sibling, Valencio, didn't take to the whole situation that cost his brother his life. He can't go after Stefano, and due to Francesco's status, he can't go directly after him . But he can go after him indirectly, and he has, on many occasions. The two despise each other with a passion, and their vendetta has caused the deaths of many underlings. Valencio is a Trueborn, a Shadow Lord Galliard.
Backgrounds:
Allies: Frankie's allies represent his associates within the Giardini family; the people he can call on in times of need.
Mentor: His mentor equates to his relationship with his father, Stefano Giardini, a capo bastone for the Giardinis in Washington, D.C. While Stefano can provide no direct aid, he can provide advice, and possibly indirect help.
Status: His status is Family Status (WoD: Mafia , p. 83-84), equating to the rank of caporegime, or Lieutenant . He's in charge of a crew here in New York.
Influence: Francesco's Influence is Underworld, based on his status w ithin the Mafia. Contacts: His contacts are partially Glass Walker-based, partially Mafia-based. One is a Glass Walker from New York (allowing you to decide who/what), who he uses to keep up-to-date on Tribal News. One is a cop on the Organized Crime unit, a gift from his father, that gives him someone in the know there. The last is a man at the docks who alerts him to any strange things coming into port.
Description:
Lean and hungry. Poised and dangerous. That’s the words that come to mind when
looking upon him. He cuts a striking figure, standing just under six feet and
weighing around 160 to 170 pounds. He has a full face, just a hint of tan to
otherwise fair skin, frame by shortly cropped, brown hair, a professional cut.
Brown eyes carry a look of cocky intelligence to them…this isn’t some mook off
the street, this man was born into greatness, and he knows it. He’s dressed in a
Italian wool suit, charcoal grey, with vest and a silk tie. Black cap shoes
complete the ensemble. He’s got an attitude to him…a look that’s not quite
arrogance, not quite simple confidence, but somewhere in between. The world is
his…it just needs to realize it.
Weapons:
A pair of Brass Knuckles (Diff 6, Damage Str+1)
Colt M1911A (Diff 6, Damage 5, Range 25, Rate 3, Clip 7, Conceal J)
In addition, through his influence, Frankie has access to other weapons,
should he need them.
Equipment:
A 2006 Volkswagon Jetta, Platinum Grey, with OnStar, Sirius Satellite Radio.
A large, comfortable home in Bronxville, NY, an upscale residential
neighborhood.
Dell XPS M140 laptop, Intel Pentium M Processor 760 (2GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz
FSB), Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, Wireless Card, 80 GB HD, 2 GB
RAM
Nokia Camera Cell Phone, non-flip, with video capability, through T-Mobile
History:
Some people have life easy. Everything in the world just floats by for
them…they succeed without ever really trying. All the doors open at the
right times; all the right people are there, willing to help when needed.
These people often end up at the top of their field, thanks to the
opportunities that they get.
Frankie Giardini HATES those people.
Don’t get him wrong. It’s not bitterness makes him hate these people…it’s
their own laziness, the fact that they don’t appreciate what they have.
After all, Frankie can’t exactly claim to have had the worst life in the
world himself. But still, everything he ever got, he fought, scraped, and
struggled for. His father wouldn’t have had it any other way. Stefano
Giardini was one the capo bastone for the Giardini crime family in
Washington, D.C. Working underneath Don Emilio, Stefano had a reputation for
the old “harsh but fair” routine. An honorable man, he directed the
caporegimes below him with an efficiency that earned him a fair amount of
respect among the family. He also held each and every one of them to the
code of omerta…to be expected, of course. But Stefano held it to a
strictness not seen in the modern day. Keep your mouth shut. The Family is
everything. And you solve your own damn problems.
Stefano also enforced this code on his own, more immediate family;
particularly Francesco. The young boy was, from birth, obviously being
groomed to become part of the Family. His father made him aware of the
Giardini’s less legitimate connections from an early age, teaching him the
harsh realities of life in the Mafia. At eight years of age, Frankie
performed his first removal, when one of the caporegimes who had told a
friend some of the more intimate details of his activities had to be gotten
rid of. Stefano had the man brought into his office, beaten and bloody. He
told Frankie what the man had done, and how this broke omerta. He explained,
while the man spat up blood that was far to bright to be from anything but
internal injuries, that the man was a traitor to the family, and that he had
endangered everyone by his thoughtless acts. Stefano placed the gun in
Frankie’s hand, and guided it to the man’s chest. The man begged for his
life, and Frankie looked up at his father, confused and frightened. Stefano
merely told Frankie, calmly and sternly, to do it, for the family. With the
father holding the gun to prevent kickback, the son put two bullets into the
man’s heart. From that point on, Frankie was raised not his mother’s son. He
was his father’s.
Stefano was very proud of his son, but when Frankie screwed up, the man
spared him nothing. Frankie was placed in a crew at fourteen, and was
expected to pull his weight. He got no special treatment for being who he
was…in fact many times, Frankie thought he had it a hell of a lot harder, as
he was given the hardest jobs and got the no more recognition for performing
them then others did. Of course, he never saw the things behind the scenes,
where Stefano was keeping him protected from others, as if he was already
made. Frankie never knew how no one made a move on him when they otherwise
would have, because they knew if they did, the capo bastone would destroy
them. So Frankie went on, and proved himself quite the little crew runner.
His rise through the ranks was based on his own merit, not that of his
father, and that is a lesson he learned very strongly: While the Family is
there for you, ultimately, you are made or broken on your own merits, not
another’s.
What he didn’t learn until much later was exactly how important his family
was.
In 1994, Frankie was working at a Family-owned casino, learning the ropes of
the financial end of the business. The seventeen-year-old was getting just a
little bit cocky, and he didn’t get along with the guy in charge of the
casino, Michael Dufresne, at all. Michael was not part of the family by
blood, but was a made man, long-since retired from the more violent aspects
of the business. He very much resented Frankie’s status, and firmly believed
the boy’s rise to be completely a result of his blood relations. He put
Frankie through hell, and Frankie didn’t react well to it. He told his
father, but Stefano merely told Frankie that “Sometimes, you have to deal
with people you don’t like. Even they are to be treated with respect;
particularly a man like Michael Dufresne.” Frankie gritted his teeth and
nodded, going along with it. Things progressed, albeit rockily, throughout
the four months he was there, until one day, Frankie showed up to work
early. He made his way up to the office, and went to open the door…before he
could reach it however, he heard something that made his blood run could. It
was a laugh…Michael’s laugh. He had never heard the man laugh before; it was
a dark, ugly sound, and Frankie recognized it, instinctually, as just…wrong.
He stopped, listening, as Michael spoke with the other person in the room, a
man Michael called Enzio. Frankie knew him by reputation…Enzio was a
caporegime from the Putansecas, a family the Giardinis was constantly in
conflict with. Frankie stood there, his eyes wide, as he heard them discuss
a plan to eliminate his father and frame him for it.
Frankie crept away from the door, ran to the front of the club, and called
his father. Stefano listened very calmly, and told Frankie to wait there,
and call back if either of them left; he would be there shortly. Frankie
waited outside of the club, trying to act cool, chatting with the bodyguard.
Minutes passed…soon, it was a half-hour. Then an hour. Still, no one had
left. Frankie’s nerves were totally shot…and he almost jumped when his cell
phone rang. He picked up, and it was his father. He told Frankie to come
upstairs, into the office. Confused, Frankie headed up…and found Michael and
Enzio, both being held by people he recognized, but only barely. Both were
beaten and bloody; Michael’s head was bowed, while Enzio was just…inhuman.
Literally. He was struggling against his captor, shrieking and howling,
fangs bared. Stefano stood in front of the desk, naked from the waist up,
claw marks on his torso. He quite calmly explained to his stunned son the
truth of their family…the Giardini were Garou, a family within the Glass
Walker tribe. Michael was a Shadow Lord who had been working for Stefano for
some time…Enzio was a creature of the Wyrm, a vampire, like much of the
Putanesca. Michael had fallen to the Wyrm, and was trying to betray them. He
had broken the only thing more important then omerta. He had broken his vow
to Gaia. He handed Frankie a gun with silver inside it. This time, Frankie
needed no one to hold his hand. He put three bullets into Michael Dufresne’s
head, and then used his own gun to put three into Enzio’s.
From that point forward, Frankie was a made man. He was put in charge of the
casino, and did an excellent job running it. He slowly made the ascent
toward prominence within the Family. In the meantime, his father taught him
the ways of the Litany, and how he, as kinfolk, was to act in accordance
with Gaia’s laws. In this, as in everything, Frankie got no
breaks…everything was once again his to lose or win. And again, he excelled.
There were punishments, to be sure, and harsh they were. However, for the
most part, the attitude that Frankie had learned before his induction into
the shadow world of the Garou served equally well in this new aspect of his
life. Stefano oversaw this aspect of his life more personally then he had
Frankie’s raising in the Family…he had to. Few others within Washington’s
Giardini were aware of that particular aspect of his existence.
In 2001, Frankie had his opportunity. One of the caporegimes was sent to
prison after being caught with several stolen trucks, and Frankie was the
best person for the job. In Frankie’s mind, he’d been the best person for
the job several other times, and had been passed over; this time, though, he
found his efforts bear fruit. He was put in charge of a small crew, dealing
mostly with running illegal product in and out of the city. This new
challenge was something he threw himself into, and after a few “learning
experiences,” which left him battered and bruised--physically and
emotionally—but wiser, he settled into his position, doing quite the
serviceable job.
Unfortunately for him, his replacement only did four years, and when he came
back, he was given his old position back in the family. Frankie was placed
in the man’s second position, a move which bristled him to no end. However,
he understood that the Family was more important, and as much as he thought
he was better-suited to the position—after all, he never fucked up and went
to jail—he trusted in his father’s wisdom, and knew his next opportunity
would come.
And it did. In late October, 2005, word came down to Stefano that the Family
had been dealt a massive blow in New York City. It was an important city…one
where they couldn’t afford to lose power. Frankie was the perfect
choice…skilled, ambitious, honorable, without attachments. He was sent up
there, with instructions to report to the head of the family, whoever
remained, in the city. He has just arrived, and is looking to find out what
happened. And he pities whoever took them out. They were about to learn the
meaning of the word “vendetta.”